Ghazal king Jagjit Singh, who regaled music lovers for over four decades with his soulful renditions, died of brain haemorrhage in Mumbai today. He was 70.
The singer, who rediscovered the ghazal genre for the common Indian in the 70s and 80s, was admitted to the Lilavati hospital on September 23. He underwent surgery but did not recover and was kept on life support. He was declared dead at 8 am.
“Early this morning, his condition worsened due to pre-existing conditions like hypertension, diabetes and an ischemic heart ailment. He passed away at 8 am,” said a hospital spokesperson.
Singh is survived by his singer wife Chitra. A versatile performer, Jagjit Singh is credited with freeing ghazal from the shackles of complexity. He had sung in several popular Bollywood films apart from recording albums in a number of languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati and Nepali.
His evergreen ghazals include ‘Kaaghaz ki kashti’, ‘Ahista-ahista’, ‘Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho’, ‘Patta-patta boota-boota’, ‘Hothon se chhu lo tum’ and ‘Tum ko dekha’.
